News and Announcements

President's Notes 2.20

April 18, 2013

We Are Boston

The attack on countless innocents at the Boston Marathon on April 15 left us all horrified. We hold the healing of those who are injured and their loved ones in our thoughts, and our prayers are with those who have died and their families.

The entire Regis College community stands in solidarity with the City of Boston and its character, which so many of our students and alumni call home and which lends spirit to the whole region of New England. Regis students, faculty and staff and their family members run in the Boston Marathon. Our nursing students and nursing faculty are linked to Boston hospitals. Together with Boston University, Emerson, Emmanuel, Northeastern, Wheelock, Suffolk, Boston College, Wellesley College, Brandeis and other area universities directly touched by proximity to the Marathon course and, sadly, the death or injury of students, Regis College asserts the cogent bonds and creative ways of higher education that help make Boston the kind of city it is. Boston, in the spirit of the Sisters of St. Joseph, our founders and sponsors, you are our “dear neighbor” and we embrace you.

Faculty

After pursuing a nation-wide search, I am pleased to congratulate Associate Professor Penelope M. Glynn PhD, RN, on her appointment as Dean of the Regis College School of Nursing, Sciences and Health Professions (SNSHP), effective immediately. Professor Glynn has been a member of the Regis faculty since 2004 and served as interim dean since July, 2011. She recently published her research on internship programs and how they help new nurses orient to specialty areas. The research, co-conducted with Sheila Silva, MSN of Norwood Hospital, was published in the March issue of the Journal of Emergency Nursing. Read the full article here. Congratulations Dean Glynn!

Michael Jackson, Assistant Professor and Chair of the Political Science Department, presented a paper at the Western Political Science Association Annual Conference on March 28, 2013 in Hollywood, CA. His paper was entitled, “Do Democratic States Go To War With Each Other: A Re-examination of the Question.” Tomorrow, on April 19th, 2013, he will present another paper at the New York State Political Science Association Annual Conference at Syracuse University, New York. The title of this paper is “Standing on the Bones of the Past: Ronald Reagan And U.S. Ratification Of The Genocide Treaty.”

Sheila Prichard, Associate Professor and Chair of the Music Department, received an award last week from the Massachusetts Chapter of American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) on the occasion of the 20th Annual MassACDA Collegiate Choral Festival. Sheila was honored for founding the Festival and chairing it for twenty years. In her name, MassACDA made a donation of $300 to Symphony Hall Scholars, which encourages young people from disadvantaged districts to participate in Regional and All-State Festivals.

Also in the Music Department, we have been blessed this year with a gift of $25,000 from Regis-graduate Kathleen Hickey Lennon, an avid choral singer who sings with Coastline Show Chorus (a chapter of Sweet Adelines International) as well as with the Regis Alumnae Chorus. Kathy is a firm believer in the importance of music in a liberal arts education and in all of life. Her gift comes at a perfect time, when faculty in the School of Liberal Arts, Education, and Social Science, under the leadership of Dean Malcolm Asadoorian, are working to reinvigorate the arts at Regis. The gift will be used for purchase of timpani drums for the performance of major works, note-learning media for the Regis choirs, and for music scholarships.

The School of Nursing, Science and Health Professions has received the very good news of continued accreditation for the Master’s Program in Nursing, including the new Adult-Geri Nurse Practitioner Track and our post-master’s certificates. The National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) also affirmed that our next full accreditation process will be held in October, 2016, as previously scheduled. Thanks to everyone who made the visit a successful one!

The Regis Theatre Company presented its first student-directed production last week in the Patricia Teehan Sullivan Studio Theatre. Frans Rijnbout tells me that “A Most Unusual Pencil” was fantastic and they received great feedback from students who really got the message about adolescent self-image and trust and betrayal.

Staff

As you may have read, Regis was a recipient of a $50,000 planning grant by Mass Life Sciences Center (MLSC) to enhance our life sciences training programs. Through the MLSC, Massachusetts is investing $1 billion over 10 years in the growth of the state’s life sciences supercluster. These investments are being made under the Massachusetts Life Sciences Initiative, passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Governor Patrick in 2008. A special thank you to CDO Miriam Sherman, grant writer Heidi Hoffman, and Professor Anne Powers (Biology), for their efforts on securing this grant.

Both Undergrad and Graduate Admissions Offices have been very busy this week. Undergrad Admission has been busy because of spring vacation when we see many admitted first-year students, and prospective juniors, seniors, and transfers visit the campus for the first, second or third time around. The Grad Admissions Office held a very successful on-the-spot admission event this past Tuesday. Among prospective undergrads, many admitted students will be finalizing their decision to enroll at Regis by the National Candidate Deadline of Wednesday, May 1, 2013. The Undergrad Admissions office will be hosting an Admitted Students Overnight and a “Regis for a Day” event next week. I urge you all to give these students a warm Regis welcome by showing prospective students how beautiful Regis is indoors and out, in classrooms, residence halls, and offices. Please be mindful of the visitor parking spots on campus as well as the prospective student parking spaces.

As you all may have read from Martin Dow, Director of Project Management, we are starting some pre-work on the Quad behind College Hall as part of the Master Plan. For two days there was a drilling rig in the SJH/CH parking lot taking “boring” samples.

And most of you know now that the re-graded plot of ground on the Great Lawn in front of the College is the site for our new, great Commencement Tent. I am so pleased we are making the move from the lovely but now too crowded Tower Garden to this open site. Commencement is just around the corner!

President’s Office

At the left I am pictured with Chaplain LeSette Wright and those who came to provide chaplaincy training on campus.

On Tuesday evening I enjoyed spending time with faculty and staff at Morrison House at my regular President’s Social Faculty/Staff social. Let me thank everyone who participated in the search for a new Vice-President, Academic Affairs, especially the Search Committee. I will receive all the campus responses and evaluations of the candidate at the end of today and will reflect on them carefully.

May I remind everyone, as well, that I am planning on holding another Town Meeting, and you are all invited, for the purpose of discussing aspects of the Master Plan with representatives of Sasaki Associates on April 30 at 2:00 p.m. in the Upper Student Union Lounge. Mark your calendars and come!

And last but certainly not least, I’m proud to announce that I’m a grandmother! My daughter, Alexis, and her husband, Brent, welcomed Olivia Hays Lawton on Sunday, April 14.

With this image of a spring and Eastertide baby, a new human life, and with admiration for the resilience, care, goodness and love shown by people of greater Boston this week, I leave you to conclude the semester with a sense of accomplishment and hope. As Cardinal O’Malley put it on Monday, in the darkness of the tragedy of the Boston Marathon attack, “we turn to the light of Jesus Christ, the light that was evident in the lives of people who immediately turned to help those in need today,” and renew our “commitment to witness the greater power of good in our society and to work together for healing.”

This weekend I am travelling to some special events arranged by our Trustees. The next issue of President’s Notes should come out May 2.